Project MULE - Expedition build on a 1991 1500 4x4 Suburban
- Thread starter PMA4x4
- Start date
PMA4x4
Adventurer
Jak jaw is from the guys over at trasharoo.
Jimmy the Heater
Observer
Looking great! Very interested to see what you do with the interior as I'm considering a Suburban for my next vehicle.
piratexpress1369a
Explorer
so i can find it on their website?
PMA4x4
Adventurer
piratexpress1369a
Explorer
thanks for that link
Larry
Bigassgas Explorer
Excellent fab work as usual Rob. Those sliders look great on your Burb but I don’t think I could bring myself to put them on mine. Just not a fan of the idea of drilling 14 holes in the very thing you are trying to protect…. “the rockers!”.
Along those same lines, I'm not sure I would recommend using a Hi-lift on these sliders either given the fact you would just be lifting only the body while pulling against the unsprung weight of the chassis and everything bolted to the chassis. I doubt any of the body bolts would actually break but you sure run the risk of ripping out the encapsulated nuts in the body or cracking/bending the body floor in the areas of the encapsulated body mount nuts. They look great though. I love the look and finish of them, someday I would love to get set for my burb but they would need to be bolted directly to the frame with no contact with the body even if that came at the cost of sacrificing an inch or two of rocker to ground clearance.
The rear gate looks awesome! :drool:
Along those same lines, I'm not sure I would recommend using a Hi-lift on these sliders either given the fact you would just be lifting only the body while pulling against the unsprung weight of the chassis and everything bolted to the chassis. I doubt any of the body bolts would actually break but you sure run the risk of ripping out the encapsulated nuts in the body or cracking/bending the body floor in the areas of the encapsulated body mount nuts. They look great though. I love the look and finish of them, someday I would love to get set for my burb but they would need to be bolted directly to the frame with no contact with the body even if that came at the cost of sacrificing an inch or two of rocker to ground clearance.
The rear gate looks awesome! :drool:
PMA4x4
Adventurer
Thanks Larry. I have to redo the wife's entire brake system this weekend otherwise I would have gotten to the pass side swing out. The pinch seam bolting is not a well known thing outside of rock crawling. It does work but I maybe the first having it on a suburban so there is the added land yacht effect, its not like the blazer bodies being smaller. I have already done a couple of lifts with some areas i marked with a marker to see if anything shifted and nothing so far but this is not ment to be bashed on daily so I am not worried. I have both a hi-lift and a bottle jack in inventory for tools so I have multiple points and ways of lifting the truck.
I'm already working on the plans for a frame only bolt up style sliders. I just have to get the rear bumper done and then maybe I will swing back to the frame mounted sliders. Fully assembled the shipping would not be cheap. That's why I am hesitant on making them. shipping would be around $100-120 to ship those probably. They would be the same just with no expanded mesh and no pinch seam mounting.
I'm already working on the plans for a frame only bolt up style sliders. I just have to get the rear bumper done and then maybe I will swing back to the frame mounted sliders. Fully assembled the shipping would not be cheap. That's why I am hesitant on making them. shipping would be around $100-120 to ship those probably. They would be the same just with no expanded mesh and no pinch seam mounting.
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PMA4x4
Adventurer
Working on the passenger side swing out arm now. This one will hold two Jerry Cans, a 20lb C02 bottle and a 12lb Propane tank.
Only one place was selling a mount for the some what popular 12lb bottle. so I made one myself. Its still ugly but its the first prototype. This one will work but already I am going to have another ran off with some tweaks.
Ignore the small holy gussets on top. It needed something up there and those were laying around.
Only one place was selling a mount for the some what popular 12lb bottle. so I made one myself. Its still ugly but its the first prototype. This one will work but already I am going to have another ran off with some tweaks.
Ignore the small holy gussets on top. It needed something up there and those were laying around.
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PMA4x4
Adventurer
It's been a while since I have posted up so I thought I would get some updates posted.
Well its been a couple months with the sliders and they have been awesome. They work great for everything they were designed for. stepping on, bouncing off, lifting and good old protection. and yes sliding!
However... One thing I did not anticipate (well I did a little but not this much) was the amount of road noise and vibration transferred to the body. I had expected some but this is frankly annoying as hell!:eek1:
So I will remove the frame mounted hing bushing and in place put a "L" plate that bolts onto the side and underneath the frame and weld the 2x2" legs to that and remove the pinch seam bolts. It will then float their like a normal Frame mounted slider/step.
I would not call it a failure, just a learning experience. and I wont loose much in cost rebuilding the frame mounts.
Well its been a couple months with the sliders and they have been awesome. They work great for everything they were designed for. stepping on, bouncing off, lifting and good old protection. and yes sliding!
However... One thing I did not anticipate (well I did a little but not this much) was the amount of road noise and vibration transferred to the body. I had expected some but this is frankly annoying as hell!:eek1:So I will remove the frame mounted hing bushing and in place put a "L" plate that bolts onto the side and underneath the frame and weld the 2x2" legs to that and remove the pinch seam bolts. It will then float their like a normal Frame mounted slider/step.
I would not call it a failure, just a learning experience. and I wont loose much in cost rebuilding the frame mounts.